“About the middle of February we went to Rome for the carnival, for Lent was rather late this year.
“And, after the week of orgies, we still remained in the ‘Eternal City’ until the end of March, that I might see all its glories, and, ah me! not a few of its shames.
“In April we went to Venice—the city of a hundred isles. I thought I had seen the most marvelous and enchanting things in the world, but here again wonder upon wonder burst upon my amazed soul.
“Why should I go on writing all this like the index of a guidebook?
“You and I have gone over Europe together. You know me, and may judge what it was to me the first time.
“Let me be brief now.
“Luigi, wherever we went, pursued his profession, and was never without ‘revenues.’ I looked in vain for any sign of heroism, self-devotion or patriotism in him.
“Sometimes in the cities we passed through, in the public gardens, or the parlors of hotels, I heard questions discussed which stirred my blood—questions of the rights of man in all its ramifications—questions that made my heart beat in sympathy.
“They never moved him.
“And I wondered. Once I asked him if he really had lost all interest in the welfare of the world.